Free In for a Ruble by David Duffy

can’t give them the whole day. The press will—”
    “I’ve called a meeting for eleven thirty, here. Bankers, lawyers, you too. We’ll review where we stand.”
    “Eleven thirty? Where we stand? That’s two hours from now. We can’t wait. We can’t—”
    “Eleven thirty.” Leitz’s tone cut off further argument. “I assume you can make it?”
    “I … Shit. I’ve got … Dammit. There’s … Hold on.”
    The phone went quiet. Leitz said to us, “My sister, who is also my PR adviser on this deal, lives life in a permanent state of high anxiety and overcommitment.” He pulled a paper from the shirt pocket under his sweater and held it out to me. “This happened just before you arrived.”
    I took the paper and retreated back to a safe distance. It was a Dow Jones story, timed at 7:48 A.M.
    $67.5 Billion Bid for TV Networks
    A new consortium has offered $67.5 billion for two TV networks, topping a $62 billion offer from a group led by hedge fund manager Sebastian Leitz.
    A spokeswoman for the Leitz group declined to comment and Leitz himself did not return calls to his office.
    Wall Street sources, who have been following the situation, say they expect a full-scale bidding war to develop.
    “They’re not making any more TV networks,” one institutional shareholder said. “We haven’t seen the end of this. I expect the price to go sky high.”
    The market appears to agree. Shares of both networks’ parent companies were sharply higher in premarket trading.
    Julia Leitz came back on the line, shattering the brief silence.
    “I can do eleven thirty. I may be a few minutes late. But I still think—”
    “Good. See you then,” Leitz said and disconnected. He looked at the two of us.
    “I can’t operate this way.”
    “They already know about your eleven-thirty meeting,” I said. “They’ll be looking to see what you do after that.”
    “I’ll tag something coming out of the meeting,” Foos said. “Give them the afternoon to pick it up, we’ll see where it goes.”
    “You could try spreading some misinformation,” I said. “Although my altercation last night says they’ll be on the lookout for that.”
    Leitz shook his head. “Too many people involved in this thing. Let’s just get back to normal so I can function.”
    I handed back the Dow Jones story. “I take it this wasn’t a knockout punch.”
    He shook his head. “The margins got thinner, but no, not a knockout. Which begs the question of what they’re up to.” He looked at me. “This is the deal of a lifetime for me. I never dreamed I’d be in this position. I’m not going to go down easily, in fact, I don’t plan to go down at all.”
    “I hesitate to say this, but you’ve made an assumption there’s no evidence to support.”
    “What? What are you talking about?”
    “You assume that whoever placed the bug is working for a rival bidder.”
    “That seems obvious, doesn’t it?”
    “Possible, maybe even probable. But, as I said, no evidence.”
    “What else, then?”
    “You’re looking at this from your perspective. That’s not where the bad guy’s coming from. He—or she—is doing what he’s doing for his own reasons. His perspective, hers maybe, not yours, is the one that’s relevant.”
    “What are you suggesting?”
    “Only what I said. Be careful about assumptions.”
    “IT’S AN OPPOSING BIDDER!”
    I shrugged. I wasn’t going to win the argument, and I didn’t really care much whether I did.
    “I need your help,” Leitz said.
    “I’ve done what we agreed.”
    “I know. But you can find the bastards. I’ll take it from there.”
    “Not that easy.”
    Foos felt my ambivalence. “That wasn’t the agreement, Sebastian.”
    “Find the bastards,” he said. “Just tell me who they are. Give me a name.”
    “Arrogance talking,” I said.
    I expected fire but I got a hard, level stare from the kidney pools.
    “A good trader always knows what he can get from a deal,” Leitz